Wednesday, June 29, 2016

AFP: Media firms lose control of news as tech platforms rise - Even if news feeds based on algorithms, still programmed by biased humans.





AFP

Washington (AFP) - When allegations emerged that Facebook was skewing its trending news stories, many learned about it... on Facebook.
That underscored the rapid shift in media -- not only is news moving from print to digital, but Facebook, Google and other tech platforms are increasingly becoming the main gateways for information.
Technology and social media firms are increasingly playing a role in filtering and delivering news, often with automated feeds, algorithms and "bots" designed to determine the most relevant articles.
That means the news industry is rapidly losing control of the news along with the revenue that goes with it, underscoring the profound changes in the journalism world. ...